"….Let the Beacons never fade;
Let the Lamps be ever bright" was the inspirational message
given by Bhagawan addressing the Balvikas Gurus when the
Movement was set in motion way back in 1962. This was not a
mere message, but a huge responsibility, Divinely
ordained…to nurture the little hearts…to blossom them to
ideal citizens.

Eversince, the Balvikas Movement has been on a roll. Lakhs
and lakhs of children have been blossomed into youth of
character over the years and there are thousands of
teachers, known as Bal Vikas gurus guiding these young
aspiring minds to a better tomorrow based on the divine
teachings and guidelines of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

Leading up to the coveted 80th Birthday Celebrations of
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Prasanthi Nilayam has
witnessed a unique congregation of 'Balvikas Family' from
all over India at His Divine Lotus Feet, rejuvenating their
minds and pledging their hearts in unison at the Feet of the
Eternal Being in human frame…Sadguru…Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai
Baba.

It was 'Children's Festival of Joy' that set about the tone
for the celebrations on 22nd October with children from all
parts of India participated in a rare display of outpouring
of love and gratitude to Bhagawan for entering and
transforming their lives, and through them, the lives of
their family members and others around them. Over the three
days, the children basked in the love of Bhagawan,
presenting a variety of programmes in the Divine presence on
the lessons they have imbibed as students of the Bal Vikas
Programme. There was a significant presence of students from
the far off North Eastern states like Assam, Manipur and
Sikkim, their faces beaming with the joy of being with
Bhagawan on this wonderful occasion.

At the backdrop of this wonderful 'Festival of Joy' came the
All India Sri Sathya Sai Bal Vikas Guru's Conference
inaugurated by the Divine Hands on the morning of 25th
October. Delivering the key-note address Smt. Sarla Shah,
National Bal Vikas coordinator highlighted the evolution of
the Sri Sathya Sai Bal Vikas Movement from its humble
beginning in the year 1969 into the much talked about and
highly valued Sri Sathya Sai Educare and the significance of
its application in day-to-day life. She said, the Movement
is aimed at creating Sai Energy Globules in the hearts of
children and parents so that instead of Atomic Energy, Atmic
Energy will be generated resulting in world peace at large.
She further reiterated on the need to make this Movement
more effective for the spiritual regeneration of mankind.
Love alone is the essence of education and where this Love
prevailed, it resulted in transformation which would lead to
the manifestation of 5 D's: purity, unity of thought, word
and deed and experiencing one's own Divinity. Sai Education
is the only solution for today and the Mission of the Sai
Avatar coupled with our action could alone change the world
into a better place, concluded Smt. Sarla Shah.

The next speaker, Sri Nimish Pandya with his rhetoric
excellence regaled the audience on the Glory of Sri Sathya
Sai Avatar. Leela of Pure Love is the essence of the glory
of the Avatar, said Mr. Pandya. While profusely thanking
Bhagawan for removing the myth that God was complicated and
that God could be achieved by simplicity and Love through
the means of Bal Vikas, he emphasised that Bal Vikas is the
simplest means for achieving the much talked about World
Peace. Highlighting Bhagawan's teaching that it is important
to change the individuals and their attitudes before
changing the world into a better one, Sri Nimish Pandya
concluded with an optimistic note that this alone would
herald the dawn of the Golden Age.

Bhagawan in His short but sweet address to the Bal Vikas
Gurus reiterated that, that which protects Dharma is Real
Knowledge and Real Knowledge is nothing but, Educare which
is coming from Atma.

The first exclusive session of the Conference was held in
the Poorna Chandra Auditorium in the afternoon, in the
immediate Divine Presence. The first one to address the
Gurus was Smt. Kamala Pandya on the subject, "Sri Sathya Sai
Bal Vikas – Milestones in the Divine Mission". Bal Vikas in
its 36th Years of sojourn is at the prime of its life, in
full bloom and it is time to take a perspective view of the
Divine Mission; We have to think, reflect and understand as
to what Bhagawan is expecting from us, advised Mrs. Pandya
to Bal Vikas Gurus. The next speaker Dr. Anand Mohan
elucidating on the subject, 'Sri Sathya Sai Bal Vikas –A Way
of Life", referring to Bhagawan's famous dictum:

If there is Righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty
in character
If there is Beauty in Character, there will be Harmony in
the Home
If there is Harmony in the Home, there will be Order in the
Nation

If there is Order in the Nation, there will be Peace in the
World, said, individual transformation alone can bring about
transformation in the world and this individual
transformation should start at the right time…right
age…should be a continual process…that should culminate in
attaining world peace. In her inspiring speech, Ms. Deepali
Changkaoti exhorted the Gurus to be exemplary role models
while talking on the subject "Be, Do and Tell". The last
speaker for the session was Ms. Jayashree Bajaj who stressed
on Bhagawan's Message of Purity and Unity to enable the
gurus to experience Divinity.

The second exclusive session was on the 26th morning at the
Poornachandra Auditorium. Dr. Ms. Neeta Khanna in her
eloquent exposition on the importance of Thought Management
said that our destiny rests on our thoughts and hence the
seed of good thoughts should be implanted right from the
conception in monther's womb. Smt. Parul Sachdeva in her
emotional rhetoric stressed the importance of inculcating
good habits which she said makes our destiny and when one
follows those good habits he or she is closer to God and
when one is closer to God he or she is at Peace. She posed
the questions herself: Am I of good character? Do I have all
those values which a guru is ought to have? Giving full
credit to the Bal Vikas training, she said transformation
started from the very day she has become a Bal Vikas Guru.
The next speaker Ms. Sashibala from A.P. stressed the need
for integration of the five techniques while imparting the
course content. Dr. Mrs. Devi Rajagopal in her lucid
presentation gave deep insight on the benchmarks of an ideal
Bal Vikas student. Explaining about the 5 D's, namely, Duty,
Discipline, Devotion, Discrimination and Determination in
details she said these five D's are not given to the child
altogether, but in gradual doses according to age.

The third and final exclusive session commenced with the
analysis of the role of a Bal Vikas guru by Ms. Radhika
Trasi. Explaining in detail the techniques involved in
training children in moulding into future citizens she has a
word of caution to fellow Bal Vikas gurus: "plunging deep
into the tumultuous waters of samsara we have emerged heroic
with the rare pearl in our hand and this rare peal is the
Divine Grace of Swami because of which we have become Bal
Vikas gurus. So, we must be very careful and not allow this
pearl to slip through our fingers and fall down to the
depths again, because only as Bal Vikas gurus we will be
able to render service and make our lives fruitful". This
was followed by Ms. Binoti Thakore's guidelines for
parenting and the crucial role of parents in moulding the
children in to ideal sons and daughters. She stressed that
families are to be dwelling places of right conduct. She
concluded her inspiring speech with few beautiful lines on
parenting:

Parenting is both Love and Law
Parenting is both Sowing seed and fructification
Parenting is Mutable yet Constant
Parenting is music both Gazal and Classical
Parenting is Mystic yet very Systematic
Parenting is Parenthetic and Paragonic
Parenting is both Practical and Tactical

Smt. Vidya Srinivasan emphasized the need for co-ordination
of the different wings of the organization in promoting Bal
Vikas.

The Valedictory function was held in Sai Kulwant Hall in the
Divine Presence of Bhagawan. Mr. Nimish Pandya summarizing
the whole proceedings of the conference in a nutshell
thanked Bhagawan for the great realization that "we are all
perched at a moment in the history of mankind when the
entire world is due to become a Sathya Sai Organisation,
every family is due to become a Sai family, every mother is
due to become a Bal Vikas guru and every child is due and
deserves to be a Bal Vikas student".

The first speaker, Mrs. Usha Nair spoke about Bal Vikas
Movement in rural India. Narrating various inspiring
incidents happened across various villages in Madhya Pradesh
wherein Bal Vikas children were involved, she concluded her
inspiring emotional rhetoric with a prayer to Bhagawan, with
a positive note to shower His Blessings to make their
endeavour a success so that the health, wealth and
prosperity of these villages which constitute the real
wealth of our nation would richly contribute to the well
being of our country. The next speaker, Smt. Nimmi Kanwar
while profusely thanking Bhagawan for His bounteous
blessings enlightened on the recommendations of the
Conference that all active workers and office bearers should
make it a point to attend the Sri Sathya Sai Bal Vikas
classes so as to make it a way of their lives.

Dr. Anil Vinayak Gokak, Vice Chancellor of Sri Sathya Sai
Institute of Higher Learning exhorted the teachers to be
transmitters of impulses to the children and detectors of
their talents. Smt. Jayalakshmi Bajaj who was specially
called upon the dais by Bhagawan said that love should
encompass everything under creation and love is expansion.

The programme concluded with the presentation of the
recommendations of the Conference and vote of thanks by Shri
Nimish Pandya.

Richly inspiring for thousands of hearts and minds of Gurus
across the length and breadth of India, rejuvenated in the
Divine Presence and inspired at the Divine Hands to carry
the torch to nurture and guide the little minds to make them
ideal future citizens of our culturally enriched Mother
India - the noblest of the tasks divinely ordained by the
Avatar of Age.